Achieving Executional Excellence
Disproportionate business failures can be attributed to people-induced executional failures (Article 2 of 3)
It is near impossible for CEOs to hedge against Black Swan challenges that topple their businesses, however research shows that a disproportionate amount of business failures can be attributed to one common factor completely within the CEO’s realm of influence – execution.
There have been several spectacular and high profile instances of companies with a brilliant strategy failing because of its inability to execute it well. At the top of this list is Enron, the fastest-growing energy company of the 90s in the United States, who fell victim to abject execution failure by its board and staff[1].
Companies who had technological advantages underpinning their strategy are not immune to execution failures, including Kodak – the inventors of the modern day digital camera completely failed in executing its strategy of capitalising on the digital innovation, fearing cannibalisation of its existing products[2]. The list also includes Xerox who innovated the first iteration of the modern day personal computer with a graphical user interface, only to see itself failing to capitalise on it and seeing Apple and Microsoft use the same capabilities to achieve great commercial successes[3].
Executional excellence elevates companies from good to great
Conversely, many great companies arose not only out of superior ideas alone but from a synergised team aligned with the company’s business strategy that was able to translate and execute ideas and strategy to obtain tangible commercial success.
It would be impossible to imagine success without executional excellence, highlighted by companies like Airbnb whose founders were able to pivot their original humble ideas to meet an untapped demand[4]; and Google – whose founders built its execution team from its engineers, and has constantly evolved the structure of its teams to achieve success[5].
Research has shown that a renewed focus on strengthening an organisation’s executional excellence will not only enable it to survive trying times, but empower organisations to thrive and seize the new growth opportunities that will arise out of pandemic-induced disruptions and in the face of the fourth industrial revolution.
[1] Fortune (2002, May 27) Why Companies Fail CEOs offer every excuse but the right one: their own errors. Here are ten mistakes to https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2002/05/27/323712/index.htm
[2] Forbes (2012, January 18) How Kodak Failed. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2012/01/18/how-kodak-failed/#6f37864c6f27
[3] Harvard Business Review (2012, October 4) Big Companies Can’t Innovate Halfway. https://hbr.org/2012/10/big-companies-cant-innovate-halfway
[4] Business Insider (2019, September 20) How 3 guys turned renting air mattresses in their apartment into a $31 billion company, Airbnb. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-airbnb-was-founded-a-visual-history-2016-2
[5] Harvard Business Review (2013, December) How Google sold its engineers on management. https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-google-sold-its-engineers-on-management